Huge, hypersonic jets blurring lines between planes and space rockets

The application, approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office on 14 July and spotted by PatentYogi, lays out details and designs for an "ultra-rapid air vehicle", which is "propelled by a system of motors formed by turbojets, ramjets and a rocket motor".

Advertisement

In the patent Airbus refers to two retired supersonic jet airliners -- Concorde and Tupolev Tu-144 -- remarking that "the ultra-rapid air vehicle proposed by the present invention enables the performance of both these aircraft to be improved very considerably". It also substantially reduces the noise emitted when the sound barrier is broken, the patent claims. The supersonic bang has been a historical problem for supersonic commercial jets, because of flight restrictions over land.

The patent explains the takeoff procedure for the jet in detail, describing how the turbojets and rocket motor would work together to bring the vehicle into "a phase of near-vertical ascendant flight", exceeding speeds of MACH 1. Of course we are used to seeing space shuttles take off vertically, but modern passengers jets are capable of mimicking this method already to some degree. At the beginning of June, Vietnam Airlines released a video ahead of the Paris Air Show demonstrating one of its Dreamliners performing a near vertical takeoff. Throw in turbojets and rocket motors and the spectacle would undoubtedly be even more impressive.

Read next

The cool science of Nasa's hot mission to send a probe to the Sun

ByMika McKinnon

Airbus

Advertisement

According to the patent, the vehicle would ultimately travel between Mach 4 and Mach 4.5 (reaching top speeds of almost 3,500 miles per hour), making it twice as fast as Concorde. The vehicle would also travel 20 km higher than conventional commercial aircraft.

Airbus

Two applications are being considered for the vehicle. Either it would be used for military purposes or it would be able to transport around 20 passengers -- probably business travellers or VIPs "who require transcontinental return journeys within one day". Journeys from Paris to San Francisco or Tokyo to LA -- distances of around 9,000 miles -- could be made in about three hours. If used as a military vehicle, the jet could be used to carry out precision strikes and "take out preferred high added-value targets".

Read next

We've found a lake of water on Mars. So what happens next?

ByMatt Burgess

Airbus has even outlined how the jet would fit in with existing arrangements for air travel. The planes would be able to use the existing airport infrastructure as long as hydrogen and liquid oxygen refuelling was available. They would also be able to avoid interactions with general cruising air traffic as they would fly at a higher altitude than existing air corridors.

It's possible that this jet will never see the light of day, but it's always interesting to see what lines the engineers designing the next generation of aircraft are thinking along.

Sierra Nevada Corporation

Advertisement

Another aircraft that we can expect to see taking to the skies over the coming years, however, is the Stratolaunch Carrier -- the world's biggest plane.

The vehicle is currently being built at Mojave Air and Spaceport in California and will be big enough to take astronauts aboard a suspended rocket to the edge of space before they head into orbit. The main aim of the plane, however, is to help launch satellites that could orbit as high as 2,000km above Earth for a reduced cost.

The wingspan of the massive plane will measure 117 metres in total and it will be powered by six 747-class engines. It is due to be ready for flight tests next year, with the first space launch currently slated for 2018.